After 31 years advancing the study of neuroscience and herding aspiring psychologists, Dell
Rhodes has retired. The emerita professor of psychology arrived at Reed in 1975, fresh out
of grad school at UCLA, and went on to teach, administrate, and mentor with vim and vigor.
On September 7 and 8, the college community celebrated her retirement by hosting “DellFest,” a
lively series of colloquia presented by former students who returned to campus to expose their
work to Rhodes’ characteristic scrutiny, and share in the festivities.

Before Rhodes’ arrival at Reed, neuroscience at the college was handled mainly in the
biology department. The brain, says former student Jeri Janowsky ’78 (now a neurology
professor at Oregon Health & Science University) was considered just
another organ to be studied. Although neurons were being examined in sea slugs, there was little
in the way of psychological investigation. Rhodes initiated a new age of microsurgery and rat
experiments in the physics sub-basement. It was Rhodes, says Janowsky, who “brought the
brain to Reed.”

Jeri Janowsky ’78 lectured on sex steroids and cognition.

Service to Reed has also characterized much of Rhodes’ career. In all, she spent nearly
two decades assisting in the administration of the college, including a year as associate dean
of students. Fittingly, despite having officially retired, Rhodes is teaching the psychology
junior seminar this semester.

The accomplishments
of Rhodes’ former students demonstrate her legacy in the field
of psychology. “Well into my academic career now, I can say without hesitation that the
skills in critical analysis of scientific literature I acquired under Dell’s tutelage
in the late 1980s . . . continue to serve as a crucial foundation for my professional development,” wrote
Matthew Kurtz ’89, in a collection of remembrances presented to Rhodes (Kurtz teaches
psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine). Sonya Masinovsky ’04, who works at Sony Pictures
Television, wrote: “As astounding as it may sound, I believe that Dell taught me how
to really read and write.”

But learning to read and write Rhodes-style was not always an easy process. Jenny Mitchell ’93,
a research scientist in neurology at UC San Francisco, offered up a limerick to make the point:

There once was
a professor named Dell
Who pledged to make my life
a living hell.
She taught me to inject,
and earned my respect . . .
I’m still amazed
that she taught me so well.

Steve Lindsay ’81, a professor of psychology at the University of Victoria, remembered
a particularly intimidating neuropsychology course—the most challenging he ever took
as an undergraduate. “Dell gave us a single-question midterm over the break,” he
wrote. “Around Thursday of that week I developed a twitch in my right eyebrow.”

Reviewing the letters sent to Rhodes by her former students, the word “mentor” comes
up again and again. John Garza ’01, who is now studying psychology at the University
of Denver, wrote: “Dell has the highest of standards for research for herself and for
her students. She remains to this day my mentor, not out of any obligation from ‘work,’ but
because she fundamentally cares about me and my success.”

Petr Janata ’90, a professor at UC Davis, delivered a talk on “Music, Memories,
and the Brain.”

Many
of Rhodes’ students also noted the energy and vigor she brought to conversations,
whatever the topic. Any student who has been grilled by her on a paper topic has probably noticed
her habit of rocking back and forth. Kristi Hiatt ’97, a postdoctoral fellow at the University
of Oregon, evoked Rhodes’ characteristic rocking during a presentation on psychopathic
behavior at DellFest. “That’s Dell thinking,” she later explained, “but
the valence is uncertain.”

Janowsky described Rhodes’ role in the lives of her former students as she introduced
her talk on sex steroids, cognition, and brain aging: “We were all her thesis students,
and we are still her thesis students. As people have gone on and on about how rigorous
Dell is, how she wants you to think about your data, I got really nervous. I’ve given
a lot of talks, but this may be the hardest.”